Some foods, like homemade bread, are more than just “cooking” and can be more like therapy. Pasta is like this. I was raised in a family where pasta was considered junk food, needless carbohydrates (obviously, we are not Italian or Asian!). In Colombia, the starch of choice is rice and various tropical starch crops like...

Wow, our ISP (to remain unnamed for the moment) REALLLLLY screwed us over, on galactic proportions. I feel shaky having come out the other end of this nightmare. My blogs are back and I am hoping our new ISP has more ethics than the last. Today I am going to show you how to make...

(Ingredients) A couple of posts ago, I showed you how easy it is to make sprouted whole wheat flour. In that post, Making Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour, I talked at length on the reasons for sprouting your grains so I wont delve into that today. Instead, I am going to share one way I have...

The slideshow above will take you through the process of making homemade Buttermilk Saltines. You might ask WHY one would want to make saltines when they are so cheap at the store. I guess I am the sort that can not leave well enough alone. I also can’t help being a scientist, even though I...

Christmas in Colombia is QUITE a production. Its not just one or two days like here in the US and it can be exhausting if you are not used to partying constantly for a better part of some 15 days, day and night after day and night. ...

(If you are looking for information on my contribution to the Menu for Hope III event go to this permalink) (Through the portal © 2006 Nika All rights reserved)Today is the shortest day of the year and tonight is the longest night. It is an important time for those of us who live in northern...

(Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with hot chocolate © 2005-2006 Nika All rights reserved) Last year I did a quickie post on Colombian bunuelos but I did not do the How-2 Guide or give a recipe. I will do that now. Colombian Bunuelos Ingredients: 2 C white fresh farmers cheese, finely ground or crumbled...

(Clockwise from top left: changua, arepa with queso blanco, pan de bono, and patacones – Copyright © 2006 Nika Boyce) A Colombian breakfast is not just one thing, sort of like you might think a proper English fry up would be. I think that a Colombian breakfast can actually have many different possibilities limited only...

(Many more how-to photos below) Recently I have been hankering to make bread. I usually make White Bread plus from The Joy of Cooking but this hankering was specific to a bread I had not made before – Challah. Part of this comes from knowing a bit about the rich Jewish family traditions that surround...

How-2 Guide on the making of Platanos People in countries outside of Colombia call them tostones and I am not sure what else! They are nothing like what you buy in bags at the store in the “Goya” section. Those hard plantain chips are scary, I almost broke a tooth on one!Real homemade platanos are...